Only this time, after erasing a three-goal deficit, they couldn’t match the Charlotte Checkers’ next goal Halloween Night. Thus, the ’Hogs lost for the first time at BMO Harris Bank Center this season in four tries, 5-3 before a turnout of 5,936.

Down 3-0, ‘Hogs head coach Ted Dent’s mindset was “not happy, but there’s still lots of game left.”

“Yeah, the guys fought back, which is great. But we have to learn sometimes you’re not going to be able to fight back all the way every game.”

So, with so much practice at coming back, Dent knows what he’d like to see going forward.

“You’re going to have to play the way we play when we’re down,” he said. “We’re going to have to play like that in the first period when it’s a tie score. We have to play with that urgency and desperation.”

Hopes of another late rush to victory began creeping in when Garret Ross got Rockford on the board at 14:22 of the second period. That cut the deficit to 3-1.

Then, Mark McNeill popped in his team-leading sixth goal at 4:00 of the third. Jimmy Hayes tied it 3-3 at 5:28 and the comeback was on.

“We’ve been down a lot this year, so I knew we were not out of this game,” Hayes said. “It was good to tie it, but we’ve got to get a lead.”

Rockford (7-3-1-0) was even for only 2 minutes, 12 seconds. That’s when Charlotte’s Aaron Palushaj sailed the puck over Antti Raanta’s left shoulder on a tough angle shot from the left side at 7:40.

Rockford’s efforts later were hampered by a five-minute interference major on Brad Winchester with only 4:36 left. Nicolas Blanchard found an empty net at 19:58 as the ’Hogs were trying to tie it with Raanta pulled for the final 1:39.

The ‘Hogs were on a 5-0-1-0 roll, including three straight wins, and were trying to extend their AHL best-ever start of 7-2-1-0. Charlotte improved to 5-3-0-1.

“We played a pretty good first 10 minutes,” Dent said. “We got some good zone time. But then we got frustrated a little bit and took some undisciplined penalties. Then they got a couple shots, some tips, with their guys going to the net. So give them credit for that.”